Another in the series of photos in and around hotels while travelling. Today is shots from July 2018. Once again, the post title is from the old Elton John song: CLICK.
Check out the TAG to see more from the series.
Better Photo has announced the winners of their August contest, and I had a second place, along with a couple of Finalists, and a Staff Favorite. Always fun to get some recognition!
2nd Place winner:
Last night (Monday, December 3) we saw Christmas with the Celts at the Wildey. As describer on the Wildey's website:
"Celebrating 14 years of successful national touring, top Irish musicians have united with the finest Nashville players to create the new sound and energy of The Celts. They perform a fresh hybrid of Irish Americana, which combines their own rootsy originals and tight vocal harmonies with fiery Irish Trad instrumentals.
Christmas With The Celts is a wonderful combination of timeless ancient Irish Christmas carols and lively Irish dance, along with modern contemporary songs with Irish instrumentation. New Christmas hits, Celts originals, and fresh Irish Dance tunes are added to the show each year so that no two years are the same. Always a pleasant surprise!"
Something new and different for us, and we weren't sure what to expect beyond that blurb. The Celts featured guitar, fiddle, bass, drums and uilleann pipes / flutes. They played a lot of traditional Irish tunes, mixed with a solid serving of Christmas music. The Christmas songs did include arrangements of many classics, but also some less familiar songs like the Pogue's "Fairytale Of New York", and John McCutchins' "Christmas In The Trenches". They had a group of Irish Dancers that came out all along to do bits, which was fun.
It was a fun evening, I always enjoy seeing live music. They played 2 sets, with a short break, for a solid evening of song. The band was into the spirit, and grins abounded... along with a couple of Irish themed jokes. The pipes player even gave an explanation /demonstration of the uilean pipes, which I especially (and typically) enjoyed.
As in my norm, I took a couple of photos, but not during actual the songs.
Regular readers might remember that I completed the Hiker's 365 Challenge in 2023. Starting November 2023, I embarked on their series of seasonal challenges (Winter 100, Spring Fling, Blazing Summer, Fall 50). I competed the last of those in October, which meant I qualified for the Ultimate Adventurer badge. All of which has been discussed here.
But, while I was logging the seasonal challenges, I logged my hikes for 2024, as another round of the Hiker's 365. Not officially, but just for fun. So, yesterday (12/1/2024), I completed my second year of 365 miles of hikes. It took about 7 weeks longer than last year, but still made it with some breathing room.
Here's a couple of photos from yesterday's walk. Taken as the sun was setting, perhaps fittingly closing the book on 2 years of these challenges. I'll have to find something else for 2025!
We had our first snow Saturday, afternoon into evening. The first snow is always somewhat magical, and fun. It won't take long to be tire of the whole experience, though!
Here's a few photos from Saturday:
